In order to preserve the legislature's interest in managing state fiscal matters through the appropriations process, a statute shall not be construed as a waiver of sovereign immunity unless the waiver is effected by clear and unambiguous language. In a statute, the use of "person," as defined by Section 311.005 to include governmental entities, does not indicate legislative intent to waive sovereign immunity unless the context of the statute indicates no other reasonable construction. Statutory prerequisites to a suit, including the provision of notice, are jurisdictional requirements in all suits against a governmental entity.
Tex. Gov't Code § 311.034
WAIVER OF SOVEREIGN IMMUNITY
Known as the Code Construction Act
The act spans §§ 311.001 to 311.036 (27 sections).
Applied in 34 court decisions — leading case Prairie View A&M University v. Diljit K. Chatha (2012)
Most recently applied in in Re Sustainable Texas Oyster Resource Management, L.L.C. (May 2019)
Added by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1158, Sec. 8, eff
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: Texas Constitution and Statutes. Reproduced from public-domain Texas statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.